Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) is the kind of man you need three hands to meet--one to keep on your wallet, another to hold your wife and a third to shake his hand with.

I don't know why the normally sensible citizens of Iowa elect a man like this--its one of life's mysteries (why does Utah keep reelecting Orrin Hatch?).

Harkin's principle role seems to be as Democrat hatchet man, which is the kind of duty that suggest the party has very little use for you otherwise. His job is to go out and say awful things about political rivals that no one with an actual political future would dare to say.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain's family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, "and he has a hard time thinking beyond that," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday.

"I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."
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Harkin said that "it's one thing to have been drafted and served, but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that's just how you're steeped, how you've learned, how you've grown up."

Harkin, who claimed to have flown missions over Vietnam like John McCain did, was caught in the lie--his job was to ferry aircraft to Japan for repair--a necessary by inglorious function Harkin figured needed some embellishment to enhance his political prospects.

This is the guy the send out to assassinate John McCain's character and besmirch not just his military career, both those of his father and grandfather--people who defended this country from wannabe tyrants like Harkin.

I'm sure this plays well with the Code Pink constituency, but they are hardly a significant voting block in this country. McCain should thank Harkin for reminding the American people how much the liberal Democrats hate the country and all it stands for.

Nevertheless, its an interesting point--being steeped too long in a particular environment, like the U.S. Senate. Tom Harkin has clearly lost touch with the country and perhaps needs to be retired from office to he can regain perspective.